Monday, June 13, 2011

Guest Post Vintage Spools By Home Stories A to Z

I loved this project so much, that I asked Beth if she would mind sharing a repost with us.  So, if you missed on the first time on Stories of A to Z, here is your chance to copy and be inspired by this great idea.

How to Make Vintage Spools
Greetings Cheap Chic Home readers! I'm Beth from Home Stories A to Z and am honored to be guest posting today for Kim. Today I'm going to show you how to create your very own vintage-inspired spools! I have a love for vintage spools. I found a bunch while antiquing, but the prices were ridiculous, so why not just make my own?
Here is what you'll need for this project:
  • 3 foot dowel rod
  • Circular wood discs (I found mine at Hobby Lobby.)
  • Wood glue
  • Mitre box (You can find this at Home Depot or Lowes and it cost about $10.)
  • Drill with large drill bit
  • Stamps and stamp pad
Step 1: Measure how long you want your spools to be and mark the rod with chalk. I marked every 5 inches and then cut the rod in my mitre box.
Step 2: Next, I stained all the pieces with some Antique Walnut Minwax Polyshades (stain and poly in one).
Step 3: After the stain is dry, I simply used Gorilla Glue to hold the spools together. I allowed the glue to set overnight and then this morning came the fun part!
Step 4: Using the largest drill bit I could find in our basement I drilled holes through the rods. My drill slipped and gauged the wood making it look all the more vintage! Yay for mistakes!

Step 5: To finish off the look, I used some stamps from the craft closet, a marker, and various bits of twine, rope, and ribbon. Ta da! Vintage spools for around $6!
I am thrilled with how they turned out. Once my craft room is ready, I will put these to use holding some of my favorite ribbon.

For now, they just look adorable in my vignettes.

The spools aren't the only thing that received a makeover today! These ugly framed pics were formerly on top of my kitchen cabinets and begging to be spray painted.
A coat of Heirloom White, picture flipped around (I didn't even use chalkboard paint), and a chalk marker later and we're looking pretty cute, eh?
That green bowl that you see below also got attacked with the Heirloom White!

Here it is now with some antique staining to boot. Ah, much better!

Thank you Kim for allowing me to share one of my favorite tutorials! I hope you all will stop by and visit me sometime. This month I'm hosting a series entitled How to Decorate for the DIY'er and it is goooood! You won't want to miss it!

I really enjoy Beth's blog, she's just so down to earth and easy to relate to.  Thanks, Beth!  On a separate note, if you like the lamp shade in the top photo, you're going to {heart} Thursday's post -- see you then!

8 comments:

  1. You have some great ideas. I might have to (ahem) "borrow" one or two.

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  2. The spools are wonderful, and I can't WAIT to see the lampshade tutorial!

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  3. While I really enjoyed this post, it brought to mind the one time I went to a garage sale where they were selling vintage spools for a buck a piece. I only bought three. What? I repeat What? was I thinking!? Needless to say I went back to buy some more and they were all gone. Of course they were, they were only $1 each! If anyone needs to make herself some as a present, it's me.

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  4. I love what you did with the green bowl. And who would know the spools weren't vintage. Nice job.

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  5. After seeing this post, I'm questioning whether I should even try to have a blog. I just don't know how you think of these things. I would have just whined about the price of antique spools and done without.

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  6. I couldnt take my eyes off the lamp shade very nice!

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Oops, put in the wrong link. Let me try again Ahem.. Thank you so much Kim for letting me guest post! For those wanting to see the lampshade tutorial, you can find it here: http://www.homestoriesatoz.com/2011/01/pottery-barn-knock-off-script-lamp-shade.html

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Thank you for taking the time to comment. I do my best to pay a return visit. ~Kim